Smiling Through the Pain
by seasaltmemories
Summary: "Why do we always have these meetings at night where you're either half-naked, half-dead, or both," She didn't dare try to crane her neck to get a look at Reiji and hurt herself again. Besides it didn't take much imagination to picture his face right now.


It was pretty rude to bleed on the Akaba's carpet, but to be fair, it hadn't been Serena's idea. First off, Reira was the one who led her in their place. Before she could even protest, he had pushed her down on a couch and began scrambling around to find bandages and other junk. It took her a moment to process anything, but once her brain finally caught up with the rest of the world, Reira quickly became her first priority again.

"Hey-" She grabbed his shoulder before he ran his legs off, "I'm ok, let me take those. I can handle myself, you rest."

Reira opened his mouth to speak, but no words were coming out. He had been like that ever since the fight, damn it. Serena took a half-second to promise she would hurt those who did this to him even more if they ever crossed paths again. But ugh, that wasn't the important at the moment.

"Reira," She was never the comforting type, but she tried to gently squeeze his shoulder, "Doesn't Beary help? Do you know where he is?"

That got a shaky nod out of him.

"Good. Can you find him and just wait there for a few seconds? I'll be ok. If you need to get alone and just breathe, go ahead and do that. Please?"

"…..o….k…." He crocked out before heading back to his room.

 _Damn it, what if I shouldn't have left him alone? If he needs me I might not-_

Searing pain shoot up through her leg and Serena had to keep from crying out.

 _Take care of yourself first, Serena. If you're not alright, you can't help out anyone else._

Mother's steady advice didn't lessen the guilt at the pit of her stomach, but it rang undeniably true. So as awful as she felt leaving Reira on his own, she went to work assessing her wounds and patching herself up. It took time to get her clothes off to examine herself closer. Still it was worth the effort to confirm nothing was broken. Her nose still felt funky, but thankfully it was just bleeding, nothing more. Those guys hadn't even really been that tough. If they hadn't had numbers on their side she could have gotten out of that without a scratch. Really things might not be so-

She tilted her head the wrong way and this time she couldn't help but curse.

"Why do we always have these meetings at night where you're either half-naked, half-dead, or both," She didn't dare try to crane her neck to get a look at Reiji and hurt herself again. Besides it didn't take much imagination to picture his face right now.

"I like to think that says more about the character of our fearless leader than mine," She massaged the bruised skin right where her ribs were and this time kept it down to a hiss, "Is Reira ok?"

"He's sleeping now," She sensed his body approach her, the warmth radiating off his skin in contrast to the cool night air, "After hearing some noise, I checked in his room and found him there. Once the attack passed, I tucked him in and then found you bleeding out on the new carpet."

"Sorry," Serena gasped, hardly giving a shit about that as she tried to reach her injuries on her back. Reira had left her with some rubbing alcohol which was great, but not if she couldn't use the damn thing.

"Here," He grabbed the bottle out from her hand. "'I'll help."

Reiji actually took the time to pour it out on a cotton swab, which she couldn't help but find wimpy until he applied it to her skin. More cursing from her, as expected by now.

"Shouldn't you be saying 'you should have seen the other guy' or something?"

"That's assuming I left anything of them to be seen."

Again, it didn't take any sight to sense his smile, the small, real one usually only reserved for Reira if anyone (She couldn't help but think she was starting to be included in along with him). Silence hung as went to work on applying bandages. It was a bit excessive, (he obviously didn't know much about first aid in general) but Serena was too tired to care. It wasn't like using too much would hurt or anything. For now, she just wanted to close her eyes and have everything fade away but her consciousness

"So what was it that shook Reira up," His words broke the trance she had entered for those few minutes. Unpleasant, but necessary.

"I don't think they were aware we were with Leo Corp," Serena sighed, "This guy tried hitting on me, and I told him to get lost, but this his friends joined in. I was able to handle it, but Reira got defensive. He tried protecting me, but then they started bullying him instead. That was enough to make my blood boil, but then they started calling him slurs…..I just couldn't stop myself after that."

He didn't speak for a while after that, bandages decorating almost her entire back by now. Once he spoke up again, it came in barely above a whisper,

"I appreciate you defending my little brother, thank you."

"No problem. He fought for me back in Synchro, there's no way I won't fight for him now."

"I should probably hire some bodyguards for you though."

"Do you think I would accept them?" Serena raised her eyebrow in challenge.

"I doubt it," He untied her ribbon and fiddled with the strands of hair covered in blood, "Still we can't have this happen again."

"Look I'm fine. I've gotten injured worst plenty of times at Academia."

And just like that, Serena ruined the mood in less than ten words. She wanted nothing more than to take them back, but it was too late for that. Nope, just had to face the fact that others would never understand the ease she felt with treating Academia so casual. Even the Professor's son wouldn't get that.

"If that's the case, then will this work for tonight?" He pulled his hands to his side, treating her comment like it was normal. She understood it would never be, but the gesture touched her all the same.

"Yeah," Serena sighed. "A goodnight kiss and I'll be set," She thought she'd sense him leave after that joke, but instead he moved to the side and faced her for the first time that night.

"That should be easy enough," He leaned forward and kissed her with so much softness. It was surprising to find such tenderness in Reiji of all people, but there it was. She hardly knew what to do with herself, so overwhelmed with the desire to just melt into him.

Serena couldn't help but gasp a bit once he drew back, "Well now you're going to keep me up all night long."

"My mistake," He moved to sit on his haunches then readjusted his glasses, "Maybe I should get some more practice to sort that out."

Serena couldn't hide the smile spreading across her face, "Since when have you been so forward? Did I miss something?" They didn't give a name to their relationship (which she greatly preferred) and he had shown physical affection to her before, but there still managed to be some surprises between the two of them.

"You're pretty attractive coming out of a fight," He shrugged to himself more than anyone else, "And I wanted to emphasize I meant it when I said thanks for looking out for Reira. It means a lot to both him and me that we can depend on you."

Those words made her heart race faster than the kiss had, "Like I said, no problem. Fusion will always be my homeland, but Standard is my home too now. I want to protect the people that make it home, like Yuzu and him."

"Understood," He didn't bat and eye at his absence on the list, "Will you be comfortable there on the couch or do you want the guest bed?"

"I'll be fine, like I said," Serena repeated herself, "Just need rest."

"I'll leave you be, then. Sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams," Serena replied as she settled herself in for the night. Sleep came fast, but not fast enough for her to miss someone lay a cover over her.

Amidst the aches of her body, Serena couldn't help but grin to herself for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **A.N. Established relationship prodigyshipping is hard to write (bc I imagine both of them being very hesitate to use the L word) but it has this nice intimacy to it**


End file.
